The health of human beings is increasingly being adversely affected by industrial dusts and waste gases, fine dusts, chronic bronchitis and emphysema of the lungs. The symptoms of severe acute lung failure are characterized by continuously pronounced disturbance in pulmonary gas exchange, an extreme drop in the compliance of the respiratory system and interstitial and alveolar lung oedema. Lethality is hitherto still specified at over 50%. One reason for that is the highly aggressive mechanical ventilation required to maintain approximately normal blood gases.
Perfluorocarbons ‘PFCs’, completely fluorinated carbon compounds, with a high level of solubility for oxygen but of very high density, have been used as therapeutic alternatives, for total liquid ventilation. That pure liquid ventilation however is technically difficult to implement. Therefore in the late Nineties partial liquid ventilation (PLV) by means of perfluorocarbons was clinically used for the first time. In that case, during normal gas ventilation, perfluorocarbon is intratracheally instilled bolus-wise to a maximum volume, corresponding to the functional residual capacity. The liquid is distributed in the lung due to the ventilation and standard gas ventilation can be continued with positive respiration pressures.
Semifluorinated alkanes ‘SFAs’ are known as medical aids for complete or partial liquid ventilation in surgical interventions, for inflating atelectasis lungs or collapsed lungs. In accordance with Dellamary et al active substances in the form of microballs can be dispersed by means of surfactants in fluorocarbons and intratracheally applied. Krafft et al. proposes an aqueous emulsion of phospholipids in fluorocarbons which, applied as an aerosol, is said to improve the fluidity of the natural lung surfactant.
The problem of the invention is to provide a medical aid with which drug transport into lung regions of a patient is achieved.